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All 18 people in Indonesia plane crash found dead
  • | AFP | October 01, 2011 02:12 PM

All 18 people aboard a plane that crashed on Indonesia\'s Sumatra island were found dead, an official said, after two days of hampered efforts to reach the remote jungle site.

The wreckage of a Casa 212 turboprop plane is seen lying in among the trees at mount Hulusekelem in Bahorok, North Sumatra

"Two teams were lowered to the crash site and they have confirmed that all 18 people on the plane have died," national search and rescue agency operations head Sunarbowo Sandi said on live television on Saturday.

The Nusantara Buana Air Casa 212 turboprop plane went down on Thursday morning in the mountainous Bohorok area, about 70 kilometres (40 miles) northwest of the city of Medan in North Sumatra.

As Sandi confirmed the deaths, scores of relatives let out cries of despair, after their hopes were raised when a victim reportedly called her mother from the plane on Thursday night.

The incident is Indonesia\'s fourth fatal air crash in the past month.

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